Portable heater for golf balls



Dec. 4, 1962 R. w. SMITH PORTABLE HEATER FOR GOLF BALLs 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 23, 1961 \K a o r Low Oo oo OOO 900 EL 00 000 7OOVOOA\ 9 A Yarrow: 6 m mw mn Dec. 4, 1962 R. w. SMITH 3,066,925

PORTABLE HEATER FOR GOLF BALLS Filed Jan. 23, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FILE. 6

INVENTOR. Ros ER 7' M 541/77! lr'ramv'sns United States Patent f 3,066,925 PORTABLE IEATER FQR GOLF BALLS Robert W. Smith, Minneapolis, Minn, assignor to Aladdin Manufacturing ompany, Minneapolis, Mum, a corporation of Minnesota Fiied Jan. 23, 1961, Ser. No. 84,460 2 Claims. (Cl. 263) This application is a continuation-in-part of my application for Portable Heater for Golf Balls, Serial No. 4,311, filed January 25, 1960, now abandoned.

This invention relates to a portable heater for use in heating golf balls. More particularly, it relates to a heater which includes a catalytic type hand warmer of the kind described in United States Letters Patent No. 2,670,728 and United States Letters Patent No. 2,914,060 to warm golf balls in a lightweight heater which can be carried in the pocket or the golf bag of a golfer as he walks around the golf course.

A golfer is interested in any way by which he can increase the distance of his drives or other shots. The golf ball travels a distance proportional to the speed from which it leaves the club head immediately after impact. It has been found that a relatively warm golf ball travels farther when hit, than a relatively cold golf ball, assuming hits of equal force. This can be explained by the fact that when struck with a given force, the rate of compression recovery of a golf ball determines the speed with which the ball leaves the club head. The rate of compression recovery of a warm ball is greater than the rate of a cold ball. Therefore, when two balls are struck with identical forces, a warm ball will leave the club head at a greater speed than a cold one. As a result, in order for the golfer to add distance to his drives by this theory, he must employ a device to keep his golf balls heated while he walks around the golf course.

This invention discloses an easily portable device for the heating of golf balls. The device is such that golf balls can be kept heated at all times in preparation for the next hole or shot. The device is also adapted so that the golf balls are available instantly. No time at the tee is wasted in looking for the desired warmed golf ball.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a portable heater for golf balls made according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the device of FIG. 2 taken from a right side thereof;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken as on line 4-4 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken as on line 5-5 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken as on line 6-6 in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the device of FIG. 2 with parts in section and parts broken away.

Referring to the drawings and the numerals of reference therein, a golf ball heater 53 is constituted as a case 54 made of plastic or other suitable material of relatively low heat conductivity and is fabricated in two sections with a front half portion 66 and a rear half portion 63 that are fastened together with suitable fasteners 67. Case 54 is of suflicient size to enclose a hand warmer 55 of the type described in United States Letters Patent No. 2,914,060. The upper portion of the case 54 has two golf ball receptacles 56, 56, each of which is of configuration to receive a golf ball 57.

An upper portion of the front half 66 is hinged as at 62 to form a cover 58 that may be pivoted away from the rear half portion of the case, as seen in dotted lines 3,066,925 Patented Dec. 4, 1962 in FIG. 12, to permit access to the interior of the case. The hinge is formed as though the wall of the front half portion 66 of the case was partially slit and the remaining material will serve as a hinge member. The hinged cover allows removal of the handwarmer and golf balls. A snap latch 60 is attached to each of the ball receptacles and retains the cover in closed position.

Identical metal shells 61, 61 are positioned within the case and are of configuration to fit into the ball receptacles 56, 56 and extend downwardly to be in heat conducting relationship with a cover cap 65 of handwarmer 55. One of the shells is positioned over a peg 59 that is integral with rear portion 63 and the other shell is attached to a peg 73 that is integral with the cover 58 of the case. The shells are retained on their respective pegs by melting an end portion of the peg to form a button. The portions of the metal shells 61 within the ball receptacles are spaced from the outer case with a plurality of knobs 68 to provide an insulating air space between the shells and the case to minimize heat loss from the shells and balls and prevent the case from getting too hot to safely carry in a pocket or golf bag.

A resilient clip 69 is positioned over peg 59 between the shell 61 and the rear portion 63 of case 54 and extends through a provided hole in the rear portion 63'. Clip 69 serves as a means for fastening the ball warmer onto a belt or golf bag for carrying the heater around the golf course.

A hole 70 is provided on either side of case 54 and alines with a cigarette lighter hole 72 provided in cover cap 65 of the handwarmer and thereby permits using the warmer for lighting a cigarette or cigar. A hole 71 in clip 69 alines with hole 70 in the rear portion to allow a cigarette or cigar to be inserted through the rear portion.

A tab 64 is provided to keep the hand warmer from moving upward and directly contacting the balls. It should also be noted that the fasteners 67 extend inwardly and locate the handwarmer in spaced relation to the walls of the outer case.

In operation, the hand warmer 55 is ignited by lighting wick 75 which in turn lights a burner 74 and heat is generated by the warmer. Air to support combustion enters the case through the cigarette holes 70, 70 and passes through the provided apertures an in the cover cap 65, in a manner similar to that in the first form of the present invention.

The heat causes air to flow across the burner by convection and the upward direction as indicated by arrows 76 through provided holes 77 in cover cap 65. The heated air rises past the golf balls 57 located in receptacles 56 and may pass through a plurality of holes 78 provided in the metal shells 61 and out to the atmosphere through a plurality of holes 79 provided in ball receptacles 5'6, 56. In addition, the metal shells 61 will conduct heat from the cover cap 65 to the golf balls. The shells substantially encircle the golf balls and supply a uniform amount of heat to the entire ball. The halls are evenly warmed by this heat of conduction and by the warm air flowing past them.

The word Odd is imprinted on one of the ball receptacles and the word Even is imprinted on the other. The golfer may then rotate three balls using the ball in the odd compartment for playing the odd numbered holes and the ball in the even numbered compartment for playing the even numbered holes. This means that each golf ball is then assured of being warmed as long as possible. In addition, there will be no confusion as to which ball to play at any particular hole.

The metal shells are made to almost completely surround the golf balls thereby transferring heat by conduction to the majority of the surface of the ball. This insures that the ball will receive sufficient heat to raise the temperature thereof high enough to greatly increase the resiliency and rate of recovery of the ball. The shells also insure that no hot spot will develop on the ball and that the heat is uniformly distributed to the ball. The added distance that is obtained from aheated ball greatly adds to the satisfaction received by the golfer.

What is claimed is:

1. A warmer for golf balls including a catalytic type heater having a case of material having relatively high heat conducting characteristics, a burner mounted on said case and a perforated cap of a material havin" relatively 10 high heat conducting characteristics mounted on said case and encompassing said burner; a cover over said burner including a warmer covering body portion and an integral ball, covering portion, said ball covering portion and an upper part of said warmer covering body portion being 1 split longitudinally of said cover into two sections, one of said sections being hinged with respect to an adjacent lower part of its corresponding body portion to form a ball and heater access door, said ball covering portion having a plurality of protuberances integral with and extending 20 inwardly from the outer walls thereof; and a shell of material having relatively high heat conducting characteristics within said ball covering portion, said shell being of configuration to be contiguous to and encompass a major portion of golf balls retained within said ball covering portion and to be in heat conducting relationship with said catalytic type heater.

2. The combination as specified in claim 1 wherein said shell is split longitudinally into two sections, with each of said sections being fixedly attached to one of the sections of said ball covering portion of said heater cover.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,609,958 Perrault Dec. 7, 1926 2,181,821 Seals Nov. 28, 1939 2,272,340 Hampton Feb. 10, 1942 2,512,284 Mumford June 20, 1950 2,729,736 Perez Jan; 3, 1956 2,942,601 Smith June 28, 1960 

